If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

The Muscle and Brawn Forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Muscle and Brawn community stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

There are a ton of questions on how to work up to a 1RM on max effort day. While many lifters don’t use percentages, it certainly makes it easier on coaches and novices on how to pick attempts. Since many people who are new to doing these movements are not familiar with their maxes, use the following to help guide you.

All of these movements are done with a medium grip (pinky on the ring of the power bar) and all 1RM on the raw bench press are done with a maximum legal grip. If you use different grips, then I have no idea of the approximate percentages.

I’m going to point out that these numbers are approximate values and should be used accordingly. These are not set numbers. So, if you’re reading this article and already have a calculator in hand and find some kind of discrepancy, it is ok and you will live. Everyone is different. Also, you will notice that there are no numbers for the incline press or the reverse band press. This is because there are a ton of different angles of incline presses and there are too many discrepancies on how to set up a reverse band press.

If you are guessing your 1RM, always err on the side of too light. Now that you know an approximate number for your 1RM on each movement, use the following set/rep scheme. Notice that the percentages start at 50 percent. This is NOT your first set. Warm-up to that first set any way that you want. Many times, it could be two to three sets before you are ready for the 50 percent set. For a stronger, more experienced lifter (“experienced” is code word for always beat up and hurting), it may take five or more sets to be ready for your 50 percent set.

Now let’s say that you don’t know your best performance on a floor press, but you know your 1RM on the bench press. Your best bench press is 315 pounds, and 90 percent of 315 is 285. Your goal is to do perform a floor press with 285, thus 285 equals 100 percent.

• 145 x 5
• 170 x 3
• 200 x 2
• 230 x 1
• 255 x 1
• 270 x 1
• 285 x 1

Because this is your first time performing the floor press, I would advise you to stop here. Don’t worry if this isn’t a true max effort. It’s not going to kill you if you don’t work all the way up. You’ve got another week of the exercise. The next week, you have a new goal to shoot for because your new goal is probably going to be fairly close to 285 pounds, I’ advise you to use the same weights or fairly close for your warm-up sets as used before. If you feel like you were good for at least 300, then base the percentages on that number (300). The percents will become a thing of the past the more experienced you get. You will begin to know instinctively how to work up to a 1RM. These percentages are great for the beginner to this program, as well as coaches and trainers that would like a more concrete way (and something they can put on paper) for their athletes.

With the squat and deadlift variations, we found that it is very difficult to find any kind of percent carryover between lifts. For example, if you can parallel squat 500 pounds, that doesn’t mean that you’re able to squat 475 with a SS Bar on a parallel box. There are way too many variables with the squat and deadlift. My advice to you is to simply estimate some very reasonable goals for each movement. In fact, if you are completely new to the SS Bar or any other movement, simply use a couple training sessions to familiarize yourself. Don’t try to work up to a 1RM. Learn how to do the exercise correctly and safely. Let’s say that you squat 500 pounds and are trying the SS Bar for the first time. Below is how you’d use the bar the first couple of weeks. For all you number-freaks and statisticians out there, we always count the bar as being 45 pounds just because it’s easier this way! Plus, it doesn’t matter how much you do on these movements as long as the way that you track it is consistent.
Week One

* Bar x 10
* 95 x 5
* 135 x 5
* 225 x 5
* 275 x 3
* 275 x 3

Week Two

* Bar x 10
* 95 x 5
* 135 x 5
* 225 x 5
* 275 x 3
* 315 x 3

After the second workout, set a goal (say 365 x 1) and use the set/rep/percentage scheme as outlined above.

Some notes to help you:

* Once you establish a record with a certain grip, STAY WITH THAT GRIP! While it’s nice to use different grips and more variation, you won’t ever know how you’re progressing if you constantly use different grips. The box height is the same concept as the grip; use the same box height when using a certain bar. While you can have a low box, parallel and high box record for each bar, this can get confusing for some. Just stick with a parallel box for now.
* When you are beginning, you’ll probably break more records than the PMRC. (A little Tipper Gore humor…) This is typical and very fun. Run with it, but not at the expense of bad form. A bruised ego is better than a bruised sternum.
* Use a grease board to chart your progress. If you are in a home gym, proudly display your records in the garage/basement/family room. If you put it up in your house, make the max effort movements appear to be stock exchange symbols and impress your neighbors.
* Don’t use a ton of different movements. Pick about five different max effort movements for the bench press as shown below.

Comments

I think working up to a 1RM is very individualised, once a person has a few attempts they seem to find their own patterh, though it's good to have a pattern/set-up such as the one above to trial first.

I don't start at 50% but mainly because 40kg is not that heavy even though it's over 50% of my 1RM (deadlift). I do seem to follow a very similar progression though, even though I'm not sure on the exact percentages at each progression through the build-up to the final lift. Though, my set-up does have a pattern which just means adding 5kg each time, until I approach the upper end at which point I reduce the increases to 2.5kg for the next successive lift.

Having done several 1RM attempts, with the deadlift, I've also come to realise how many or how few reps I should employ so that I still have enough in the tank and am not burned out by the time I reach the 1RM attempt itself.

Tweaking those reps is important, IMO, so that a person can work out the optimal reps and increases that are customised to themselves and once they have a pattern that is working, stick with it.